The Islamic religions claims in the Quran that it is the perfect and complete guide for all human eternity.
So it claims to be the perfect system before, during and after the lifespan of human kind. Now you’ve again quoted me some lovely, cute stuff, but let’s get this straight. Islam allows and regulates slavery, Mohammed practiced slavery and your scripture makes slavery possible even today. There is no point downplaying this because it is not my opinion, your very own scripture and its heroes say so. Since the Quran is the main source of your believe lets look at some of its verses.
Quran 2:178 – “Prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered. The free for the Free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female” – Why is Allah dividing humans in different categories? Is Allah not supposed to be equal?
Sahih Muslim 1602, book 22, hadith 152, 10:3901 Mohammed purchased slaves, not exactly emancipation now is it? In fact, he traded 2 black slaves for 1 arab slave. Hmmm? Why not free all 3 slaves? Why are 2 black slaves worth 1 Arab slave? Mohammed does not seem to be following all that you said above.
Sahih Bukari 9:89:296 – a Slave owner wanted to free a slave, but Mohammed instead decided to sell him for 800 dirhams
Quran 33:50 – Sex with slaves
Quran 4:24 – shows that the companions of Mohammad were reluctant to have sex with married slaves until Muhammed approved it in the Quran and suggested to not pull out either.
23:5-6, 70:27-30 – more sex with slaves, or let’s call it what it is (rape).
Quran 66:4 – Mohammed raped his Egyptian slave Maria de Coptic. His wives Aisha and Hafsa felt disrespected, but Allah intervenes repudiating his wives. Same in Sahih Muslim 15:4112
Sahih Bukhari, slave owner frees a slave, but Mohammed said they would have gotten more reward if they had given her to one of her maternal uncles.
Sahih Bukhari – “none of you should flog his wife as he flogs a slave and then have sexual intercourse with her”. Says Mohammed...
As for the whole islam encourages you to free slaves, it does not hold up when your leader is clearly not following his own rules. In fact, Zad al-Ma’ad says the names of at least 40 slaves owned by Mohammed…Perhaps you meant to say “whoever frees a “MUSLIM SLAVE”, allah will save all the parts of his body from the hellfire. Sahuh Bukhari 3:46:693
Now as for the treatment of slaves, well as you can see from the verses, Muslims during that time tended to rape the slaves. The Zanj Rebellion against the abbasid Caliphate is also testament and evidence that muslims treated the slaves brutally, and that africans were against slavery. Slavery was certainly a norm in Arabic culture, but it is false to say it was the norm worldwide in this historical period. As we had many powerful civilisations during this period that did not engage in slavery and even fought against it. So, there was clearly a moral high ground and difference being made even during these periods. People just seem to think that Abrahamic history is the worlds history. That is not the case! For example
Sassanid Empire had slavery laws that stated beating slaves is a crime even for a king, slaves to be treated humanly or freed, slaves can buy freedom, freeing slaves encouraged. This was before islam…
Today self-proclaimed califates such as isis, that ignore western international law, go back to Islamic laws to enslave people of my country and tribe in Mali today. For example, you have my tribe the madinka, who are at large Muslims. We have another group called the dogan people. These are also madinka, but called dogan, because they rejected to follow Islam.These people are being killed and sold into slavery by the Muslims to Arabic nations. The Muslims don’t do this because they corrupt Islam, or because they are a bunch of lawless people. No, they take this practice directly from their leader, the one your book claims to be the example of humanity.
I would say that you are better and live a more morally righteous life than Mohammed sir. And so have millions of leaders before, during and after Mohammed’s life.
My point was not even really about Islam, but religion as a whole. It is nonsense to claim that religion has not encouraged people to do bad things and just excuse it by saying bad people use religion as a tool.
I knew you would come up with a list, and hence why I asked in my previous post to bring one at a time and not overload me. Anyways, I'll provide my comments on each of them.
Quran 2:178 – Why is Allah dividing humans in different categories? Is Allah not supposed to be equal?
Answer: Well the reason is when it comes to legal retribution for murder, the punishment is equal whether it's a free man, women or a slave. Some things have to be explicitly stated when there exists a hierarchy in the society.
Sahih Muslim 1602, book 22, hadith 152, 10:3901 Mohammed purchased slaves, not exactly emancipation now is it? In fact, he traded 2 black slaves for 1 arab slave
Answer: Muhammad(saw) was not the King of Arabia. He was only a leader of the Muslims. His rules apply only to his people. This event refers to a slave who came to the prophet and accepted Islam during the migration. The Prophet accepted him, but didn't know that he was a slave. As you probably know, the migration happened because the early Muslims were persecuted. When the master came and demanded him to be returned, what do you think the Prophet could have done ? Send him back to the oppressing master ? So, he had to trade 2 black slaves owned by Muslims as that was the law among the Arab pagans.
Sahih Bukari 9:89:296 a Slave owner wanted to free a slave, but Mohammed instead decided to sell him for 800 dirhams
Answer: The reason is also mentioned there right ? The person didn't own any property other than that slave and he was on his deathbed. So the prophet sold him and sent the money back to him to leave something for his children.
Same in Sahih Muslim 15:4112
Answer: It's a similar case of another person who had no property and decided to free all his 6 slaves at the time of his death. The prophet asked him to free 2 and keep the other 4. These are done on a case-by-case basis based on the situation. But, did you notice that the followers who had nothing left were freeing all their slaves ? That attitude change is the result of the Qur'an.
Sahih Bukhari, slave owner frees a slave, but Mohammed said they would have gotten more reward if they had given her to one of her maternal uncles.
Answer: Again a specific case of asking to gift her slave (not sell) to maternal uncle. Maybe her uncles were in poverty and badly needed their service.
Quran 33:50 – Sex with slaves
Yes. This was the norm for 2500 years and Qur'an approved sexual relationships between master and slave as not adulterous. Remember, only the master is allowed to have sex and nobody else. Qur'an also forbids forcing slaves to prostitution in verse 24:33. Perhaps this was allowed so that the sexual needs of the slave is also met. But wait, the Law doesn't end here. Islamic law also stipulates that when a child is born out of this relationship, the slave moves to the status of "umm-al-walad" (mother of a child) who became automatically free on her master's death. The child is considered free and considered legitimate children of their father, including full rights of name and inheritance. So even this provision is meant to end slavery.
Quran 4:24 – shows that the companions of Mohammad were reluctant to have sex with married slaves until Muhammed approved it in the Quran and suggested to not pull out either.
Answer: Learn the full story. This is regarding the battle of Awtas, where the enemy warriors fled to the mountains leaving behind their women and children. The Muslims waited for their delegation to come and rasom them, but didn't. The companions of Muhammad(saw) were reluctant to take them as slaves because they knew their husbands were alive. The verse addressed this case and approved MARRYING them. Remember marriage needs approval of the women. The choice was offered to the women, and they choose to be returned to their families and the Muslims returned every single one of them.
23:5-6, 70:27-30 – more sex with slaves, or let’s call it what it is (rape).
Answer: Ermm, not rape. Just allowance of sex with slaves as I explained earlier.
Quran 66:4 – Mohammed raped his Egyptian slave Maria de Coptic.
Answer: Nonsense. Maria(ra) was an Egyptian slave gifted to the Prophet by the then ruler of Egypt. After she became a concubine of the prophet, she embraced Islam. The prophet had a child in this relationship who died in his infancy. This is a legitimate relationship pre-Islam and within Islam. The other wives have nothing to complain, and the report of their displeasure doesn't come from any authentic source. The actual story behind this verse 66:4 is reported by his wife Aisha(ra) herself in Sahih Bukhari, it's a totally different incident.
Sahih Bukhari – “none of you should flog his wife as he flogs a slave and then have sexual intercourse with her”.
Anwer: Hmm...yeah you can't flog your wife like flogging a slave (practice of pre-Islam). Muhammad(saw) also forbid beating a slave.
Zad al-Ma’ad says the names of at least 40 slaves owned by Mohammed…
Answer: They were not all his slaves at the same time. You are missing the point that Muslims purchased slaves who accepted Islam from their non-Muslim owners and then later set them free. Then there are also prisoners of war. For example, in that list of 28 men, you will find the name Zayd Ibn Haritha, whom the prophet purchased, then freed him and adopted as his son. How many slaves did he have when he died ? Probably Zero.
If some Abbasid King or ISIS ill-treated the slaves, it is against the scriptures. You keep going on about rape. Look around the countries in the world today, and it's the Islamic countries that give the harshest punishment for rape, and you say you can rape a slave, when both the Qur'an and prophetic teachings emphasize on their good treatment. Sassanid Empire may have had slavery laws, but it didn't impact the Arabian society. They still had slavery, so entrenched that the concept of a servant was absent. If you want someone to do some work, you needed to find a slave.
Muhammad(saw) has addressed the issue of slavery as well as he could.
